Reading Time: 2 minDespite the tremendous growth of Zoom and other video conferencing platforms over the last few years, the vast majority of our communication remains in text form, primarily email. There are big advantages to both types of communication, which Seth Godin broke down right near the beginning of the pandemic. Real-time communication, like Zoom or in-person […]
Empathy
Authenticity without empathy is selfish
Reading Time: < 1 minAuthenticity has been a hot word for the past few years, and with good reason. Avoiding facades and sharing your true self is a great thing to do, and it’s generally a very positive way to go. However, it can become selfish if you don’t pose your authenticity through the lens of empathy. This kind […]
Three simple rules for sharing
Reading Time: 2 minSocial media is often filled with memes and information that are just flat-out incorrect. Most of it comes from one type of sharing: “That fits my viewpoint, so I’ll pass it along!“. Truth becomes secondary to speed. That’s not to say you shouldn’t share things that you agree with, but taking a moment to verify […]
The mattress in the road
Reading Time: < 1 minA recent episode of the excellent Hidden Brain podcast shared a great analogy about why most people aren’t too interested in fighting climate change. You’re driving down the road, stuck in awful traffic. It’s stop-and-go for 30 minutes, until you finally get to the source of the problem. It’s a mattress in the middle lane, […]
The customer is always right in matters of taste
Reading Time: 2 minThe idea of “the customer is always right” goes back to the early 1900’s. Among others who coined the phrase was hotelier Cesar Ritz, who said “If a diner complains about a dish or the wine, immediately remove it and replace it, no questions asked.” It’s not necessarily a bad policy, but can have a […]
That’s against the natural order of things
Reading Time: < 1 minIn The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, they proposed three rules that describe our reactions to technologies. The rules are pretty simple, and they seem to fit my experience pretty well. Of course, knowing and understanding that things often work this way can help you fight against your tendencies. In my case, I find things […]
Where do you really get your news?
Reading Time: < 1 minAlmost every day I see someone complaining about “the media”, and the lack of coverage on a particular story or the slant given to something that happened. Despite that, I still maintain that you are the media. It’s important to have professional news organizations out there, for sure, but they no longer have very much […]
This is water
Reading Time: < 1 minBack in 2005, David Foster Wallace gave an amazing graduation speech at Kenyon College. The main focus of the speech was sonder, the idea that everyone around you has an internal life as rich and conflicted as yours. When you’re out in the world, particularly in frustrating situations such as driving or at the grocery […]
Empathy is key for SEO
Reading Time: < 1 minIf you want to write content that ranks well in Google, empathy is a huge part of helping with those efforts. It’s not that empathetic writing is more SEO-friendly style, but really understanding your customers will help you target the right keywords. It doesn’t matter what you think people should be searching for, but it’s […]
The ability to search well is a skill
Reading Time: < 1 minI see it a lot in various Facebook groups, and even a bit from some of our clients. A question is asked, and the first thought is “why didn’t they just Google that?”. Perhaps they did, but they just didn’t know how to phrase it properly. For example, if someone’s website just went down, they […]